A Petaluma man was arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail on a burglary charge early morning on May 11.

According to a report by Rohnert Park Dept. of Public Safety Sgt. Mike Bates, the man pulled up alongside a parked car at a Rohnert Park shopping center, got out, smashed a window, grabbed a purse and drove off.

An undercover officer witnessed the incident and alerted patrol. He followed the suspect onto Highway 101. When he realized he was being followed, John Raymond Ware, 42, sped up in excess of 80 mph before making an abrupt highway exit across three lanes at Santa Rosa Avenue.

Officers in a Rohnert Park patrol car stopped Ware on Santa Rosa Avenue and arrested him on suspicion of burglary and possessing burglary tools. Items found inside Ware’s car were taken from the burglarized car.